The Kolkata-class destroyer is the most advanced destroyer in service in the Indian Navy, and it is also the largest destroyer in the Indian Navy. At present, six ships of this type are already in service, and the construction of the seventh "Surat" is still underway.
Objectively speaking, the combat effectiveness of this Indian drive is second to none in South Asia, this type of destroyer has a displacement of 7,500 tons, and is equipped with an Israeli-made EL/M-2248 four-sided active (active) phased array radar, which can be called an Indian Aegis ship. However, after the advent of this type of ship, many friends will wonder why such a large destroyer is only equipped with frigate-level Otto Melera SRGM76 mm naval guns?
This 76mm naval gun is a medium naval gun developed in Italy, which is equipped with multinational frigates including the Italian Navy's FREMM multi-purpose frigate, the American Perry-class frigate, etc., and in the Indian Navy, it has also been used to equip Shivalik-class frigates in the past. It can be seen that this is a frigate gun. Looking at the world, destroyers of the same class as the Calcutta class, such as the British Type 45 (6,000 tons, slightly smaller than the Calcutta class), are equipped with 114 mm naval guns, while the destroyers of our navy have basically popularized 130 mm naval guns. So in this case, why is India's Calcutta-class, as a large destroyer, equipped with frigate ship guns?
In fact, India originally planned to introduce from the United States a batch of the US Navy's very mature MK-45 Mod4 type 127 mm as naval guns of the Calcutta class and its modifications. This American-made 127mm naval gun is very advanced in performance and is the standard equipment of the Burke-class and Ticonderoga-class of the US military, so why did India not install this naval gun on top of the Calcutta-class?
It turned out that although this American naval gun has a large caliber and is very powerful, its main function is to target the ground and the ship, so its rate of fire is very slow, only about 16-20 rounds / min, which is nothing in the eyes of the US Navy, but not in the eyes of India. Why? Because the U.S. Navy's air defense capability is quite strong, its fleet has basically formed an all-shield ship, whether it is the Burke-class or the Ticonderoga-class, they all have strong air defense capabilities, and the U.S. Navy also has aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft as air defense support. However, there is still a gap between the air defense capability of the Indian Navy, especially the technology of shipborne anti-aircraft missiles, and the US Navy, so the naval guns of the Indian Navy also need to be responsible for part of the air defense.
In contrast, although the Italian 76 mm naval gun that India is currently equipped with is very small, the rate of fire is as high as 85-100 rounds per minute, and although the power is not as strong as that of the American naval gun, the air defense capability is stronger, which is enough to supplement the air defense of the Indian Aegis ship, which is the reason why India chose this Italian naval gun.
Another reason is that when the United States approved the export of 127 mm guns to the Indian Navy, the price was 1.02 billion US dollars for 13 sets, and an average of 78 million US dollars for one gun, which is indeed more expensive. Therefore, all things considered, India finally chose to install the seemingly uncoordinated 76mm gun on the 7,500-ton destroyer.
In fact, this also reflects the fact that India's own weapons and equipment research and development capabilities are indeed insufficient, but the self-developed destroyer cannot develop a special naval gun on its own, which is actually not right, what do you think?